Abstract

The authors investigate Raman lasing in a spherical high- glass microresonator with the help of a near-field optical scanning probe. Scatteredphotons are utilized to perform mode mapping of both pump and lasing modes. Single mode lasing with a record low threshold of is observed. They investigate the position dependent quenching of the laser emission by the additional loss introduced by the subwavelength scanning probe and derive an estimation of the mechanical force gradient acting on the probe. They generalize a theoretical model of Raman lasing in microresonators to describe these effects.